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Posted by James N on January 12, 2026, 17:30:53, in reply to "Thanks Kurt - but "
Thanks to you both for the very interesting info about Midship Models. I have two of Midship's kits, Nevada MPK311 from '08 and '09's Idaho, MPK318. They each supply an etch fret and decal sheet with middling metal parts and a plastic weapons sprue. The instruction sheets - combined into a booklet - are vague and/or incomplete and not at all helpful for someone unfamiliar with these ships, and are a let down (for the original price).
The resin parts including hulls are fine and up to good standard though with Nevada the scuttles are not in line and all over the place so would need to be filled and redrilled. Also, Nevada is molded with a degaussing cable in situ which I believe was not present in December '41 so would have to be removed if the ship is to be modeled for the attack. I assume that this was the best way for Classic Warships to cast the hull for this class, Oklahoma* would be covered and for her sister easier to remove a degaussing cable in 1/700 than to fit one (debatable).
Nevada's box and instruction sheet photo's are of what appears to be New York and Pennsylvania class ships respectively. I am not 100% certain because they are taken bow-on or 'in line' but they are not Nevada class that's for sure. On both is printed "photo may not match kit" as a disclaimer and it doesn't affect anything but is a curiosity considering the masses of '41 Nevada class photo's available.
If Pavel Vacta remastered these two Midships kits, when he moved to Admiralty Modelworks his skills improved dramatically. I have Courageous from AM and IMHO the quality of the resin castings is first class and greater than Midship's when put side by side though again, MM's battleships are still very good. Congratulations to anyone who comes across one for $20!
Chris Decker posted on SN for a bit when he launched Midship Models back in the day and was able to be contacted, but I have not heard from him on here in a long time.
* I have seen photos of Oklahoma's salvage and as I recall it was fitted with the cable. 
Previous Message
Thanks Kurt - that makes sense as Pavel was an excellent master maker. Not sure where this leaves us with regard to the original question as we don't know if Pavel remastered all the former CW resin kits. If he did remaster the hull of BB-48 then Midships should be credited in ScaleMates for this ship model Previous Message
Pavel Vacata was doing the remastered kits for Decker. I live near where Chris's shop was and stopped by and met Pavel. Previous Message
Clearly the bases for this model was from Classic Warships. But there is more to it than that. Steve Wiper sold all his resin kits, including his masters, to Chris Decker who had already started Midships by producing plastic models.
I was one of Decker’s “Admirals Club” the members of which provided some of the cash that enabled Decker to pay for the injection molds for his then much needed plastic kits. For a while I had the original CW USS Tennessee circa 1944 and the Midships USS New Mexico 1941. There was, if my memory is correct, an obvious quality difference between the two kits. I am fairly certain Decker did not have the ability to create or upgrade resin masters. Chris is an engineer but creating masters is an entirely different skill set.
I think at some point Decker had someone spruce up some of the former CW kits by adding the Midships weapons set and added decals and perhaps improved the resin hull masters for some of these kits. The white metal parts still remained.
Ebay has 15 of Midships resin kits listed. Also listed are a number the plastic kits and weapons set. The Midships resin kits on Ebay go for $79 to $129 and all from the same seller.
So if I am correct, then how can one say it’s derivation was the CW kit? Basis for sure but I believe the kits were changed. $20 is for sure a fine price.
Tangentially, eventually Decker sold Midships to Freetime/Pacific Front.
Brandon Lowe than had Mike Czibovic (Corsair Armada) make new masters of everything for the rebuilt BB’s (such as the Tennessee) and labeling them as Blue Ridge models. They are still great kits.
It is possible Decker had Mike Czibovic spruce up some of the former CW kits by improving the resin hull masters for some of these kits.
All this (including my memory) could be best addressed by contacting Chris Decker. Previous Message
So I came across a Midship models 700th scale BB-48 kit(1941). The box says it was from 2009 but I know resin kit molds change hands many times.
Which company produced it originally. I’m trying to update its entry on scalemates. It was never catalogued before.
Pretty nice kit for $20!
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